Town Hall News

By Bart Biesemans BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Freed Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele lost 30 kg (66 lb) but not his sense of humour during over a year in an Iranian jail, his spokesman said on Saturday following his release in a prisoner swap. Vandecasteele arrived back in Belgium on Friday from Iran where he had been accused of spying and sentenced earlier this year to 40 years in prison and […]

By Moira Warburton and Katharine Jackson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A lead Republican negotiator in the talks with President Joe Biden’s administration to raise the U.S. federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and avoid a disastrous default told reporters that thorny issues remained on Saturday. Time is tight. The Treasury Department on Friday said the government would run short of funds to pay all its bills on June 5 without congressional action, […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Passengers flying into Britain faced major delays after landing at airports on Saturday due to a nationwide issue affecting the automated border control gates that scan passports upon arrival. Images posted on social media showed long queues with hundreds of people at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports with frustrated passengers complaining of having to wait several hours in line. “We are aware of a nationwide border system […]

By Eduardo Baptista BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s cyberspace regulator said 1.4 million social media posts have been deleted following a two-month probe into alleged misinformation, illegal profiteering, and impersonation of state officials, among other “pronounced problems”. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement on Friday it had closed 67,000 social media accounts and deleted hundreds of thousands of posts between March 10 and May 22 as part […]

(Reuters) – Russia on Saturday blamed Kosovo, the United States and European Union for escalating tensions in the Balkans and said it was watching with concern after violent clashes between Kosovan police and protesters opposed to ethnic Albanian mayors. The United States and allies on Friday rebuked Kosovo, saying the use of force to install mayors in ethnic Serb areas undermined efforts to improve troubled relations with neighbouring Serbia. NATO […]

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has offered his resignation as leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) following weeks of protests against his rule but said he would remain head of state. At a party congress in Kragujevac in central Serbia, Vucic nominated defence minister Milos Vucevic to replace him as party leader. Both his resignation and replacement have to be formally accepted in a closed session […]

By Joyce Lee and Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) -A passenger on an Asiana Airlines flight told police he opened a door on the plane minutes before it landed in Daegu, South Korea, on Friday because he was “uncomfortable”, Yonhap News Agency reported. The man, in his thirties, was detained on landing. He told police that he opened the door because he “wanted to get off the plane quickly,” Yonhap said […]

(Reuters) – Erling Haaland was named the Premier League’s Player of the Season on Saturday, after a record-breaking debut campaign in which he has delivered goals by the sackful as Manchester City claimed their third straight league title. Haaland, 22, has scored 36 goals in 35 games this season, breaking the previous record of 34 in a single Premier League campaign shared by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer that had […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – The financial regulator of China’s Wuhan city publicly exposed 259 firms with debt to the government and urged them to immediately pay up, local media reported on Saturday. The rare action from Wuhan’s finance bureau on Friday comes as local governments in China become increasingly pressed by higher debt and expenses. Wuhan was the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2019. The borrowed funds ranged […]